In October, Michael Stern, 53, the man who orchestrated that scam, was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $2.6 million in restitution to Freeney, 33, the Internal Revenue Service said in a news release.

The two met around February 2010, when Freeney's financial manager, Eva Weinberg, introduced Stern under the false name of Michael Millar.

Weinberg left Merrill Lynch after she met Freeney and formed her own company, in which Freeney was her only client and she managed his bills and investments, court documents show. Weinberg, scheduled to be sentenced this month, presented Stern as a wealthy businessman who could be an asset to Freeney in multiple ways.

Stern portrayed that he was a potential partner and investor in Rolling Stone Los Angeles, a Hollywood restaurant owned by Freeney and Roof Group, LLC - a company controlled by Freeney.

While Stern never actually invested any money in the restaurant or became an employee, the IRS reports that he fraudulently gained access to several of Freeney's personal and business bank accounts. Despite not being a signor, he was able use accounts through Weinberg. Stern then engaged in 400 separate fraudulent transactions, totaling $3 million in losses to Freeney.

According to court documents, Stern used the money to pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills related to previous bankruptcy and civil cases in Florida. He also bought jewelry, paid for foreign vacations for him and his family, sent his children to private school, and bought gas and groceries. More than $700,000 of Freeney's money went to an attempt to buy a private jet, all without the NFL player's knowledge.

The FBI began investigating Stern in early 2012. In a recorded conversation with a confidential informant, Stern asked the informant to fly to Los Angeles and destroy a computer hard drive that contained incriminating evidence.

Stern was arrested on March 22, 2012 at Miami International Airport. At the time, he held two checks totaling $35,000, both made out to Freeney. He also had a Bank of America debit card with Freeney's name on it. Weinberg worked at Merrill Lynch in Miami when she met Freeney, before opening her own company in Los Angeles.

This year, on June 24, Weinberg, Freeney's former financial manager, pleaded guilty in a related case to a charge of accessory after the fact.

In May, Freeney signed a two-year contract with the Chargers that included a $3.25 million signing bonus and a base salary of $1.5 million for 2013 and $2.5 million next season, if he is on the roster.

He appeared in four games for the Chargers before he tore his quad against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 29 and had season-ending surgery.